A compression molding process of this type is described in the German specification DE-OS No. 30 35 701. According to this, the section or other body is compressed in a compression mold to its ultimate shape, and cured by a heating process. A curing process must be carried out if the binding medium is to bind the individual particles.
The problem of the process referred to hereinabove is the time during which the curing of the compression molded article or section requires that the body remain in the mold, before a new operation can be initiated. In many cases, it is also necessary to cool the mold, before the next run can be executed.
It is, therefore, of paramount importance to keep the molding time for the individual production pieces as short as possible, so as to be able to recoup the high investment costs. Due to this problem, most experiments have failed. Those plants that are in production are uneconomical, as large investment costs only yield a very low production.
For this reason, compression molded articles made of vegetable particles mixed with binding media have so far been unable to find an appreciable share of the market. The greatest progress has obviously been achieved with the production of one-piece pallets made of compression molded vegetable particles which have the disadvantage of the afore-mentioned disproportion in regard to investment and production.